Double points in first year with purchase

[DVCNews]

For a limited time buyers who purchase an ownership in the Disney Vacation Club will receive double their normal allotment of points to use within the first year.

Original Article (http://dvcnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1190&Itemid=1)

[Stitch]

This reminds me of a TV ad a few years back. I think it was Staples. The scene was a kindergarten class. The teacher was giving massive box of crayons to a little girl while the rest of the kids just stared, sort of shocked. The teacher was saying something like "We'll give these special crayons to Suzie because she's new."

The ad clerverly poked fun at companies who ignore their current customers in order to please the new ones.

Maybe DVC needs to dig out that ad campaign and consider the message they are sending to current customers.

[Mousenut]

How is this different from what would happen in an add-on situation? I would get '09 points from every use year until Feb 28th anyway right? Since this ends Feb 28th, it's all fluff isn't it?

I got $15 off @ Kidani with '09 points banked.

What am I missing that makes this a deal?

[former83]

this is kind of like the deal we got in jan of 09 when we bought into baylake we were given a credit on our purchase and an extra year of points that we had to use by the end of sep of 09 at saratoga

[TimK]

How is this different from what would happen in an add-on situation? I would get '09 points from every use year until Feb 28th anyway right? Since this ends Feb 28th, it's all fluff isn't it?

I got $15 off @ Kidani with '09 points banked.

What am I missing that makes this a deal?

I don't know that I would call it "fluff." There have been times recently when buyers did not get points until well after their purchase had closed due to the fact that they are buying into a structure that was not yet complete (BLT, VGC, Kidani.)

February Use Years do not receive 2009 points and if DVC was actively marketing a later Use Year (they don't have an endless supply of March points), it could be quite some time before they received the double points. A December UY purchase wouldn't get another set for 9 months.

[Sweetpea]

I couldn't agree more with stitch.

[ffpmme]

This reminds me of a TV ad a few years back. I think it was Staples. The scene was a kindergarten class. The teacher was giving massive box of crayons to a little girl while the rest of the kids just stared, sort of shocked. The teacher was saying something like "We'll give these special crayons to Suzie because she's new."

The ad clerverly poked fun at companies who ignore their current customers in order to please the new ones.

Maybe DVC needs to dig out that ad campaign and consider the message they are sending to current customers.

How is this different from buying into DVC and getting a free trip/stay @ SSR or another resort for purchasing? I think it is the same thing just wrapped differently.

[DisneyGeek]

How is this different from buying into DVC and getting a free trip/stay @ SSR or another resort for purchasing? I think it is the same thing just wrapped differently.

Good point; just more flexible than those restricted Developers Points. Maybe a number of loan defaults have resulted in some excess stock that reverted to DVD? :confused:

[Stitch]

How is this different from buying into DVC and getting a free trip/stay @ SSR or another resort for purchasing? I think it is the same thing just wrapped differently.

I agree. It's not different. It's simply an incentive to buy.

I'm just being crabby.

But there is something to say about continuing to share the love with your current customers. Yes, I know that I am getting exactly what I contracted for. Yes, I know I've already enjoyed ten years of membership benefits. Yes, I know all businesses need to keep finding creative ways to sell their products. And yes, I know the economy stinks so they have a pool of points to unload from ROFR and bankruptcies.

But, I also know it's cheaper to keep a customer than to find new ones. And DVC would rather we continue to visit and spend money and not rent our points.

So, I'm being crabby because I don't see alot of creative marketing to me, the current customer, that would entice me to continue to visit and spend my money rather than sell it off, or rent my points.

(Honestly I have no interest in selling or renting. And I continue to visit every year. BUt I also keep reading about members who are less happy than when they purchased. They love is wearing off. Thus they are selling and/or renting and that doesn't help me and the value of my points.)

The airlines are unique, but can be compared. They had great members' programs for years. Lots of perks to loyal customers. And what happened when they pulled back on the perks? Customers fled but first they complained very very loudly. Yes I know this is a different industry and the darn airlines were going bankrupt, but there is a lesson to learn from their mishandling of their loyal customers.

[former83]

(Honestly I have no interest in selling or renting. And I continue to visit every year. BUt I also keep reading about members who are less happy than when they purchased. They love is wearing off. Thus they are selling and/or renting and that doesn't help me and the value of my points.)



that is the reason i think that they believe that they dont need to market to us.they know that most of us will come and spend our money. if someone rents their points the renter will then spend money

[MatterhornMiss]

My friend who just bought in last month got a February use year with 2009 and 2010 points, but for some reason she can't use her points until the summer--I'm not sure why.

[DisneyGeek]

That's strange MM; what resort were the Feb. points at? From the context I assume it was a direct from Disney purchase, right?

[MatterhornMiss]

It was at AKV--yes she bought directly from DVC. My understanding is that the contract was written that way so she wouldn't have to start making payments until then. But still, something in the way she explained it didn't make sense to me.

[shell045]

Maybe I can help explain the Feb. use year @ BLT....

We purchased BLT and got Feb use year. We closed in December, 2008. We got all out 2009 points (300)... even though the resort didn't open until August..... but only paid the proportionate amount of maintenance fees (6)months ... basically 1/2 price.

Not sure if this what your friend is talking about... but I know this was the case for us.

Not sure why she can't use them until the Summer... but in our case the unit we bought was not built until the summer. Are there new units being built in the resort she bought into? Maybe her unit won't be built until the summer.

[ffpmme]

We were sort of the same way when we bought AKV. Since it was not open, we could not use our points until 8/2008, but we got a free trip to DVC @ SSR and only paid a certain amount of the dues for the first year.

[TimK]

We were sort of the same way when we bought AKV. Since it was not open, we could not use our points until 8/2008, but we got a free trip to DVC @ SSR and only paid a certain amount of the dues for the first year.

That's pretty standard when buying into a property that is still under construction. Booking outside of one's Home is basically "sharing" another owner's property, and it wouldn't be proper to allow a buyer to utilize someone else's villa if their own villa were not yet part of the program.

But I can't see why DCV would prohibit an AKV owner from using current year points until several months into the future.

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that perhaps they are requiring her to wait a short period until the purchase actually closes before completing a stay. Between the 14-day waiting period for backing out of the deal and the time it takes to close and get the closing recorded, a purchase really isn't official for about 4-6 weeks after the papers are signed. While DVC lets buyers book immediately, your first stay typically cannot occur until after the closing. Maybe that's what is happening here. :confused24:

[DisneyGeek]

Perhaps there is even a new restriction with using Disney financing that is dragging the first use out further into that multiple months territory??? :confused: Perhaps a number of people purchased, stayed, and defaulted on the loan? Seems awfully extreme, but it could happen...

[bakerworld]

This was our case also - we bought in August 2008 and could not use the points until November 2008 which ended up being February 2009 by the time we found captible dates at SSR with our schedules.

[wbl2745]

I found out that this promotion does not apply to the Villas at the Grand Californian. Bummer.